The latest news from the studio

Sort

To celebrate Barbie’s THE NEW CREW release of fifteen diverse Ken dolls, MACHINE-A’s founder and buying director, Stavros Karelis, has curated an archive exhibition of Ken dolls that will go on display at the independent concept store.

Hand selected by Karelis, the exhibition will include archive Ken dolls that pay tribute to the new range that offers over twenty different looks, three body types and four ethnicities Archive dolls will include the 1991 MC Hammer Ken, a 2009 Ken by Gareth Pugh, which features a miniature version of a patent leather coat from his A/W 09 menswear collection, as well as a 2011 Ken by Ambush among many more!

The exhibition will be displayed alongside an exclusive T-shirt by Martine Rose that celebrates Ken’s origin with the designer graphic featuring an archive image from 1968, reworked in her own inimitable style.

Head over to MACHINE-A from 7 July 2017 to see the retrospective exhibition!

In a time when there are those doing their best to polarise and terrify the world’s population, this project celebrates homogeny, finding beauty in youth and coming together as one to send a message; As FAMILY, we are always better together.

SHOWstudio's latest exhibition, Fashion Flora will be travelling to Port Eliot festival from Friday 27 July to Monday 30 July! As part of the festival's continual exploration into the creative industries, fusing the likes of art, fashion, flowers and music, SHOWstudio will be hosting a pop up gallery at the Orangerie.

The exhibition will showcase bespoke fashion illustrations from Fashion Flora, originally shown at our gallery space at 22D Ebury Street. The exhibition captures some of the greatest floral catwalk moments as chosen by floral designer Flora Starkey. In tandem with Nick Knight, Starkey allocated these moments to our community of artists to re-intepret the looks in their unique stylings. Exceptional floral looks by the likes of Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Dior and many more will be on show.

As part of our extensive collections coverage, every season SHOWstudio collaborates with artists and fashion illustrators to depict the season's offering. A different artist illustrates key looks from each city. Following on from Sally Bourke and Crystal W.M. Chan, renowned artist François-Henri Galland will be interpreting the shows for Paris Fashion Week Men's S/S 18.

Galland grew up in Madagascar and now works and lives in Paris. He began focusing on ink portraits a decade ago, using Chinese tools as his medium, transitioning into watercolours.

Galland's work seeks to convey emotion and gesture, with as few marks and details as possible, capturing the essence of his subject impeccably.

Be sure to keep an eye on the SHOWstudio Tumblr to see this imagery as it is created, as well as our collections coverage to see the art and catwalk inspiration side by side.

As part of our extensive collections coverage, every season SHOWstudio collaborates with artists and fashion illustrators to depict the season's offering. A different artist illustrates key looks from each city. These unique artworks will be available to purchase on our e-store soon after.

Our Milan Menswear S/S 18 illustrator is Crystal w.m. Chan! Chan was born in Macau, a former Portuguese colony in China but is currently based in New York. Since 2012 she has been exploring her self taught craft and has featured in exhibitions in Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco and New York.

Her signature style exhibits heavy influences from her Chinese heritage, often reworking elements of her native caligraphy into watercolour. Her aim is to provoke elicit emotions with those who view her pieces, through the direct, honest and autobiographical nature of the work.

Be sure to keep an eye on the SHOWstudio Tumblr to see this imagery as it is created, as well as our collections coverage to see the art and catwalk inspiration side by side.

MA shows are visual declarations from brilliant minds, an option for the industry to tap the keg of youth and its innovative, fresh ideas. For 2017, on election day - a day filled with news, media hysteria and an abundance of stuffy suits in the public eye - the RCA presented a remedial slap of refreshingly energetic talent and style. Shown across three floors of the Old Truman Brewery, this presentation was a declaration of politics, race and gender.

First up was Zahra Sooty Hosseini, whose modern Iran-inspired pieces were entirely interchangeable. Sat centre stage in a pool of Sooty’s designs while the fashion pack took their seats, the models rose to show the versatility of the garments as a call to prayer rang overhead - dress transformed into prayer mat, prayer mat into slick hooded suit, suit into cape and back into mat for the models to pray. Particularly pertinent considering the recent attacks, Sooty’s work is a reminder about the way Islam is so often misconceived in the western world.

The gong of call to prayer became a singing fog horn as Michael Stewart’s ladies of the moor stepped out. Cut on the bias, Stewart’s designs are all about drawing the eye to the hip. Henry Moore inspired hand-made wrist and waist cuffs hugged the body and drew attention further to those sumptuous lines. One thought of sculpture, of Heathcliff and of Hans Bellmer. In a world of Kardashian silhouettes, Michael Stewart offers a beautiful alternative.

Innovative knitwear from Verity Germer challenged our comfort zones with thick and thin ribbed sleeves and oversized pinch pleat shoulder, Aubrey Wang’s fishbowl head ornaments, silver trousers and plastic bag stripes nodded to a fun future of fashion with a nineties twist, Colin Horgan’s Tekken and Gladiator inspired women came in iridescent and holographic patent strips and black oversized flares, showing the viewer his women are ready to take on the world and Jennifer Koch’s vivacious models danced and sprang about the stage in their shimmering candy coloured metallic tracksuits, throwing fortune cookies toward the audience. (Each of which cleverly had Jennifer’s contact within.) Amongst all the fantasy and frivolity these designs shone as covetable and marketable items.

Fabien Kis-Juhasz took a torch to the generic horror film female stereotypes and gave them a new club-kid lease of life. Debutante was given a boozy twist with slurred make-up and nipple accessory, Grandma (retitled as The Anarchic Mother) was given chunky extra-prominent shoulders and a soft pink headscarf and the final bride came with a stomp in her buxom breasted gown complete with waxen lingerie accessories. A wonderful deconstruction of femininity as a construct.

From female empowerment to manipulated menswear, Charlotte McDonald’s denim and parka-like visions had the front row leering over toe to get a better look at her techniques. McDonald had used radio frequency welding to create her distressed and structured jackets and trouser - each of which looked to challenge the way masculinity is represented.

When roaming through the upper and lower floors, creativity seemed to appear from each corner as if course leader Zowie Broach had created a Willy Wonka Factory for arts and fashion. Up top, viewers were entranced by Binbin Hu’s conjoined models, each attached with a white or cream lightly ribbed dress. One thought of Ernesto Neto’s sculptures as models moved and swayed creating new shapes and shadows as they nonchalantly wagged cigarettes and vapes from fingers.

Back on ground floor, the topical themes and designs were abound. Bianca Saunders sought to define modern black masculinity with her collection ‘Personal Politics’. Bathed in a rose glow, her models carried each other in a ceremonial manner, each wearing her already highly-praised designs - lacquered beige kick flares, grey sweatpants with coral like crimping on each hip and strapped puffer jacket and crop. Ellie Rousseau’s Manchester club-kids came in rave-coloured, checkerboard and graffiti print oversized knits and jean with some models sporting Manchester’s bee symbol on their hands - particularly poignant considering the recent attacks. Models also held up political banners that read ‘Corbyn In, Tories Out’ and ‘Save our Future’ - reminding us of the uncertain times ahead.

Each student, thanks to Broach’s tutelage, presented a truly wonderful presentation of craft and performance that emblazoned each student’s passion and awareness. Each offering was a finger on the pulse moment showing an impressive and deserved sense of confidence.

This week, luxury retailer Mulberry are giving away free Grayson Perry designed Balloons to the public from their Bond Street Flagship store.

The Balloons depict Perry's childhood teddy bear 'Alan Measles', designed, created and distributed in order to celebrate the opening of Grayson Perry’s 'The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!' at the Serpentine Galleries in London from 8 June to 10 September 2017.

There are limited numbers each day and there is only one week left to secure your own unmissable disposable art piece from the eccentric artist. The Mulberry Bond St opening hours are Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:00 BST and Sunday 12:00-18:00 BST.

London Fashion Week Men's has begun! Every season, SHOWstudio commissions a new artist to interpret key runway looks from the current collections. For time it's artist Sally Bourke.

Bourke is an Australian-based painter whose studio career spans almost twenty years and has been exhibited widely in Australia. Her artwork is inspired by her upbringing and her portraits and scenes are an attempt to make reconciliations with her past, live in the present and imagine the future.

Head to the SHOWstudio Tumblr to stay updated with Sally Bourke’s portrayal on the LFWM collections!

Live Panel Discussions: shows that raise eyebrows, pique interest and spark debate This season, our Live Panel Discussions focus on the shows SHOWstudio deems the most relevant and conversation-worthy. Lou Stoppard and Finn McTaggart will chair panels alongside industry experts. Our panels this season will be streamed regularly at 11:00 or 17:00 BST. See our schedules for each city below:

Sarabande was established by Lee Alexander McQueen to support artists and designers who are creatively fearless. The foundation grants scholarships to seven of the leading universities for art and design across the UK and provides subsidised studios for artists and designers in East London.

SHOWstudio are happy to announce that this month our fashion illustration exhibition Moving Kate will be travelling to Tokyo!

A selection of contemporary fashion illustrators and creatives have offered their own take on runway looks of model Kate Moss. More than 40 original artworks by illustrators by the likes of Jenifer Corker, Unskilled Worker and Rei Nadal are accompanied by footage of Moss from SHOWstudio's extensive archive, as well as unique 3D printed sculptures.

The exhibition will be held at The Mass, a space dedicated to the display of modern and contemporary art, located at 5-11-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku, in Tokyo. Open 30 June - 31 July 2017.

In celebration of his 60th birthday and his forty years as a milliner, British milliner Stephen Jones will be taking over the SHOWstudio Tumblr as our latest guest curator!

Since graduating from Saint Martins School of Art in 1979, Jones started his millinery career by making hats for friends at a time when London was the centre for creativity and iconoclastic fashion ideas.

Jones will be posting about his journey and experiences through archive and unseen imagery.

In light of SHOWstudio’s recent panel discussion on the effects of Brexit on the fashion industry, Tuesday 30 May, I travelled to Shoreditch House to watch their Brexit for Breakfast discussion in the hope of gathering further opinion. Heading toward a comically placed projection of both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May haphazardly eating breakfast, I take a seat in a plump chesterfield corner piece and brace for debate. Chaired by Shoreditch House, the panel consists of menswear designer Oliver Spencer, Financial Times political leader writer Sebastian Payne and comedian Ahir Shar.

With the fashion industry contributing over £28 billion to the economy, it seems rather frustrating that when speaking about Brexit, fashion isn’t often a topic of discussion. As the panel discussion began it became apparant that this was widely felt among all panelists and indeed the audience too. 90% of people within the fashion industry voted to remain - no surprise considering a large aspect of the fashion industry is dependant on European exports, be that materials, designers, students or artisans. Designer Phoebe English stressed this frequently in SHOWstudio’s panel discussion. 'If people can't come here, it’ll be something that will be a slow detrimental impact on the fashion industry.' Oliver Spencer touches on this during the Brexit Breakfast, discussing the importance of international passage, 'they need us as much as we need them… the Italian economy is on a knife edge, if they can’t import/export to us they’re in trouble.’

In the run up to the snap general election, none of the key players have yet voiced their Brexit survival tactics, the panelists ask, are we feeling the effects of Brexit already? Spencer thinks so. Spencer feels the weakening of the pound has already begun to impact his day-to-day as well as taking a hit to big brands in America. 'Take Ralph Lauren for instance, over 40% of his business comes from discount stores such as Bicester village, he has closed two stores in New York and his rent for his Bond Street store has gone from 7 million to 11 million.' Without a grasp of the online, these top bracket brands are in considerable trouble. Sebastian Payne mentions that as Corbyn’s polls for the snap election have risen, the pound has dropped even further - perhaps not all Brexit to blame. Short term, the drop in the pound has given us a boost in tourism, with London becoming a much more affordable place to travel. Spencer claims that because of this, London is now the watch capital of the world. While this is a positive surge for the likes of Harrods and Selfridges, Soho’s boutiques and independent shops still struggle.

Payne then moves to discuss the importance of immigration, stating that unless 200,000 people immigrate, businesses will suffer. Neither politician has stated that they will support such a high number, which sends a sigh of exasperation across the panel. 'The lead indicator for a recession is immigration,' adds Payne. The murmurs of an impending recession quell the topic of fashion altogether and we begin discussing Brexit in a much larger scope - 'If we left (the E.U) in a snap there would be a 30% hole in the budget,’ says Payne. Is corporation tax an issue for the city? Should we all move to Europe? Will Theresa May get enough seats in the election?

The questions begin to retaliate from the audience, with one character offering a 'Made In England' solution to the issues of import/export. With China now too expensive for manufacturing and most items now made in Bangladesh - can we not manufacture and re-open the factories in Britain for production? Spencer mentions that Patrick Grant, the creative director of menswear brand E.Tautz, tried to do exactly this, opening a factory in Sheffield - which unfortunately had to close. This is part of a wider issue - youth favour the keyboard rather than a factory machine.

After much discussion, the panel agree that while the future for the fashion industry is indeed ominous, that the key asset this country is its creative power. With inflation and the price of everything except wages increasing, we all have to be creative to get by. 'Out of recession comes creativity,' comments Spencer. I’m pleased to see that this optimism of creativity was the result of both Shoreditch House's and SHOWstudio’s panels. A positive outlook, no matter the financial or political climes. The industry shows a passion and drive to survive.

Alessandro Michele is a master of unity. He is a conductor - bringing together different notes and rhythms in a strange but seductive harmony. Disparate decades, cultures and genres are clashed and correlated on his runway. He designs like a DJ - sampling, referencing and paying tribute, all while offering the odd scratches and unexpected beat drops that give pace and intrigue to a great set.

After yesterday’s Cruise show, staged in the imposing Palatine gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, much was made of the fact that Michele really wanted to hold his runway in the Parthenon in Athens (aim big, is the Gucci motto, not only in terms of location, but also collection size - note the 115 looks). The Parthenon team seem to be the only people not currently drinking the Gucci kool-aid - they turned down the offer. No matter - the classical elements, most obvious in the gilded wreaths worn and carried by models, may have been intended to shine in a big fat Greek fashion show, but they worked just as well here in Florence. That’s because nothing really looks out of place on a Gucci runway - they are a vibrant free-for-all, a lesson in something-for-everyone. In this democratic vein, Michele nodded to the way people freely interpret brands and create their own messages and symbols based on their design heroes. He’s long had an interest in the way the internet and social media has taken the power away from brands in terms of controlling their own narrative and messages, hence why he embraced the subversive wit of meme makers, who often turn brands into jokes, for a recent watch campaign. How smart - long gone are the days where brands can dictate how their output is communicated and discussed. Dialogue now is complex, quick and audience-led. He’d nodded to this again at this show with garments emblazoned with slogans such as Guccification, Guccify Yourself and Guccy. They’ll fly off the shelves and dominate street style. But there’s more to them than surface. To misspell your own brand name is a punchy statement - one that shows supreme confidence. Gucci are the leaders of the pack at the moment, so they can afford to be so daring and tongue-in-cheek. Other brands are reaching and hoping, but Gucci are at the top looking down and playing.

‘Guccy’ sums up Michele’s Gucci - he’s taken what we all know, those illusive ‘codes of the house’, and messed with them, twisting them up with his own references, his keenest obsessions and the moods and ‘it’ items of the moment (see those ubiquitous and on-trend chunky dad trainers). He’s playing with fashion by playing with the house itself. It’s hard to criticise or parody his work when he’s doing it himself with such freewheeling joy and amusement. It must have been tempting, when showing in such regal settings, filled by great art from the masters, to try to elevate the collection and promote the preciousness of his pieces. He’d stayed away from any expected and stuffy fashion-as-art schtick and instead promoted the relevance and realness of his clothing. How refreshing.

‘Guccy’ also suggests fakery and bootlegging. It’s a popular trend at the moment to craft items that look like they could be knock-offs - see the work of Demna Gvasalia or the much-discussed collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Supreme. After all, why let the fraudsters take the cash when you can peddle the heavy-logos and chintzy flashing looks on your own shop floor? Those eighties-esque branded leather and fur pieces made me think of Dapper Dan, who sold monogrammed statement pieces from his Harlem boutique long before brands would dare to offer such smile-raising, unsubtle items in their own stores.

There were lots of new trinkets and details on show to delight the magpie-like Gucci consumer - those darling pearl embellishments certainly delighting those on the front row, brandishing iPhones in the hope of posting an Instagram hit. But, to me, it was the closing look that said the most - it was a printed pleated skirt, worn with a branded knit and a good bag. It’s certainly the look Michele is most known for, one that has run through his collections since his first season and a style that has filtered down from his dazzling runway spectacles to the racks of the high-street. It’s also proof that, wherever his mind wanders or wherever he stages his show, a classic winning formula remains just that - once you’re on to a winner, keep at it.

Launching this Sunday, this collaboration between SHOWstudio and Parsons works to highlight Parsons' current curricular focus that encourages students to look beyond the garment and traditional representation of 'collection' to include film/video, illustration, interactive design and other forms of digital publication.

SHOWstudio are thrilled to offer a prize to an outstanding graduating senior in fashion media representation in the form of a 3-month virtual mentorship with SHOWstudio founder Nick Knight, and an opportunity to be highlighted on SHOWstudio.

The winner for the 2017 collaborative project is Jihyun Myung, a South Korean born designer, whose aesthetic is centred around investigating aesthetics from alternative perspectives. Find out more about the Myung with her exclusive interview with SHOWstudio Junior Editor Georgina Evans.

Visit SHOWstudio Sunday 28 May 17:00 BST to watch the winning film alongside the two runners-up!

SHOWstudio is supporting the Canadian International Fashion Film Festival 2017!

SHOWstudio Head of Fashion Film Raquel Couceiro was invited to Canada to represent SHOWstudio. Couceiro has been taking part in a panel discussion, alongside Fashion Film Curator Niccolo Montanari and Andy Lee from the London College of Fashion School and Media, discussing the diverse and shifting landscape of the medium.

SHOWstudio has long supported the nurturing of emerging film talent, the CANIFFF summit mirros this attitude by inviting young creatives to express and explore their aesthetic through film.